28
Finance
Product Mgmt
Scholarship
Harvard
MBA
School Attending: Harvard Business School (also admitted to Wharton, MIT Sloan, and Chicago GSB [with a total of $40,000 in scholarships])
Professional Experience: Approximately six years at a financial services firm, including four years working in the United States.
Now that I have been admitted to my first-choice school, HBS, looking back on the past year of the application process, I realize that although there were difficult moments, I was actually enjoying the process very much. In hindsight, the MBA application process was an excellent opportunity to reflect on myself and a true chance for personal growth. I was able to have such a valuable experience thanks entirely to Round One’s support. Below, I would like to share what I found important during the application process, as well as the distinctive strengths of Round One’s counseling, in the hope that this may be helpful to those considering applying in the future.
MBA applications are also a race against time. For applicants aiming to apply to multiple schools in the highly competitive second round (January deadlines), it is ideal to complete the GMAT and TOEFL by summer and then begin working on essays. In my case, I finished the GMAT and TOEFL by July and then slowly began working on essays. At that stage, it never occurred to me to seek a counselor’s help, and I spent my days working alone at my computer. However, no matter how much time I invested, I struggled to complete my essays, repeatedly writing and rewriting just a few paragraphs at a time. Even by October, I still had nothing I was satisfied with, and I began to panic. It was then that I was introduced to Round One by an acquaintance.
Because it was already late October, when Round One typically stops accepting new clients, I had to make a special request. Fortunately, I was accepted as a client in early November. Round One is a small counseling firm consisting of two highly capable counselors, Mr. Round and Ms. Round. Leveraging their small size, they provide flexible, customized services tailored to each individual client. Their counseling—conducted via email and Skype—was ideal for me, as I was living in the United States and traveling frequently for work.
Before starting counseling, Mr. Round warned me: “You’re starting much later than other applicants, so you’ll need to be prepared to put in serious effort over the next two to three months. It will be demanding—are you ready?” I assured him that I was. I immediately began counseling, scheduling at least two to three sessions per week and completing a large number of assignments for each session. Through this intense pace, I was ultimately able to submit applications to all seven of my target schools in the second round. I am deeply grateful to Round One—especially Ms. Round, who served as my counselor—for accommodating my extremely tight timeline with such flexibility.
Each session was highly productive and filled with learning, and I looked forward to every appointment. However, simply scheduling many sessions is not enough—the quality of feedback depends directly on how well prepared you are. By completing numerous assignments and organizing my questions in advance, I was able to make the most of each session. At the same time, wanting to avoid wasting appointment time created a healthy sense of time pressure that helped me manage my schedule more effectively.
Essays are the most powerful tool for differentiating yourself. Looking back, I believe that how you approach essays is just as important as how much differentiation you inherently possess. Before meeting Round One, I jumped straight into writing essays without sufficient brainstorming. Because I had not firmly established core elements such as “Why MBA?”, “Why this school?”, and “Why now?”, my essays lacked a solid foundation and coherence.
Once I began working with Ms. Round, I discovered what I now believe to be the correct approach, and my productivity increased dramatically. The correct approach is to thoroughly build a solid foundation—almost excessively so—before writing. Round One’s essay counseling begins with a deep review of your past, present, and future. What work have you done in the past? What responsibilities did you hold? What achievements did you accomplish? What are you doing now? What are your goals? What do you want to do in the future, with what level of responsibility, and what results do you want to achieve? These questions are explored in great detail.
Future goals are broken down into short-, mid-, and long-term objectives, and you develop a career plan specifying which companies, positions, and concrete roles you want at each stage. This was truly an eye-opening experience. Previously, my future goals were vague—something like “I want to work in this industry doing this kind of work.” Ms. Round, however, pressed relentlessly: “At which company? In which city? With what title?” This forced me to seriously consider my future career path and desired lifestyle. Although actual essays do not allow enough word count to include all this detail, having clarified it beforehand made writing the essays far easier.
Once this foundation was set, we worked together to determine what content to include for each school’s essay topics. Because each school requires four to five essays, we focused on highlighting different facets of myself in each one to create a vivid, three-dimensional portrait. Spending sufficient time refining content at this stage allowed the actual writing to proceed smoothly. This process reaffirmed for me how essential a strong foundation truly is. After I submitted drafts, Ms. Round conducted meticulous reviews and offered precise advice, such as pointing out weak narrative areas and recommending concrete examples. Her ability to evaluate content holistically was invaluable.
After completing essays and submitting all applications, interview training begins—and this too was an excellent experience. The first step was a mock interview designed to assess my interview skills, followed by a highly detailed evaluation report. I performed poorly in this first mock interview, feeling it deserved only 20–30 points out of 100. Regrouping, I practiced extensively based on the evaluation report. Believing repetition was key, I scheduled interview training about three times per week.
Full mock interviews that simulated the entire process were extremely helpful, but my favorite training was the Type B Intensive Training, where I answered interview questions one by one and received immediate feedback on my responses. This allowed me to apply improvements right away. Interview training alternated between Ms. Round and Mr. Round, and their constant encouragement—telling me that I was steadily improving—was a tremendous psychological boost. I also practiced mock interviews with several native-speaking friends and even with people I had never met before, believing it was important to become comfortable speaking with strangers.
When I finally faced my top-choice HBS interview, I was able to perform at 100%—or even 120%—of my ability. I had thoroughly prepared for leadership- and teamwork-focused questions, answered smoothly, and passionately communicated my motivations. After the interview, I received very positive feedback from the interviewer and intuitively felt that I would be admitted.
That said, among the multiple interviews I attended, there was one for which I felt insufficiently prepared, and the result was—as expected—a rejection. This experience reinforced just how critical interviews are: no matter how strong your essays may be, interview performance can ultimately determine the outcome.
Finally, to those considering applying in the future, I encourage you to view this application process as an opportunity for growth and truly enjoy it. Looking back, everything I learned and reflected on during the process—future life planning, how to present myself, and more—has proven invaluable for my life going forward. This process undoubtedly serves as an excellent mental runway for entering business school. And Round One will surely make this journey even more meaningful for you.
